Riders of Elysium

Chapter Five

----Third Person----

Azariah smiled as Rayna walked up to the front door. They'd come up with the perfect story. A dragon rider had recruited the girl called Eyre. So they'd say they were from the same school recruiting Regina and Zoya.

"Excuse me," Rayna said, "Are you Regina Sari?"

The tall teenage brunette at the door nodded, "Suni?"

"Who?"

"Sorry, my older sister Suni went to college. You look a lot like her," Regina said.

Rayna nodded, "Oh. Cool. So you know that school Eyre went to?"

"Yeah," Regina said.

"You and Zoya have both been invited," Rayna said. Regina bought it and told her mother.

Who abruptly said, "You're planning to take all my children? Wait, Suni?"

"Mom, this is Rayna," Regina said, "Suni's in a college exchange, remember?"

Rayna silently thanked Regina for saving her from answering that question. This was getting awkward.

"I guess you two can go, if only to keep an eye on Eyre," their mother said, "Just write lots of letters."

"The school has enough spare clothes, so they don't need to pack anything," Rayna said.

Their mother nodded, "I hope you have so much fun!"

"Why wouldn't we?" Zoya asked, "Eyre's there. My favorite sister!"

"Thanks a lot," Regina said sarcastically. Zoya smiled sweetly.

It finally occurred to her that she was kidnapping two children, then would let her master brainwash them, and they could help her kill their sister. The life of an assassin is never easy.

At least they'd had time to change into normal clothes before they arrived. Arriving in fighting suits would probably have not worked as well.

They 'escorted' the girls into the car and drove them to the woods. There, they led them through the tunnels, which Zoya marveled at while Regina glared at Azariah suspiciously.

Rayna then led them to the barn and closed the door.

Kugen met them outside, "The girl?"

"Not yet," Rayna said cautiously, "But we didn't return empty handed."

"Tell everyone to clear out," Kugen said, walking into the barn.

Azariah frowned at Rayna, "You're going to let him take them?"

"I don't see what else I'm supposed to do," Rayna answered, "Why?"

"Nothing," Azariah said, staring at the ground, "Guys, clear out!"

They all fled to the woods.

"I say hunting trip this week," Ajax said, smiling.

"Someone needs to watch the woods," Ollie said cautiously.

Aurelia, the oldest of us, smiled, "Don't worry, I've got it."

"I'll stay too," Ollie said.

"Suit yourself," Rayna said, now wearing her training suit again, "I'm going hunting higher up in the mountains."

Azariah frowned, "That's where the dragon school is."

"Scared of a few overgrown lizards?" Rayna asked, laughing.

"That's not fair," Azariah said, "They're overgrown lizards with a love of treasure, sharp claws, fangs, and fire breath!"

Ajax, the nerd, smiled, "Not all of them breathe fire, you know."

"Yeah yeah," Azariah said, "We going hunting, or what?"

Azariah, Ajax, and Rayna went out into the woods a little deeper, "When'll Storm get back from her mission in the north?"

"I don't know," Ellukah said, appearing behind them, "But I heard 'hunting trip' and I'm here."

"I have a mark up in dragon school," Rayna said, "I can get her while hunting."

That night while they were all camping in the woods, Azariah quietly snapped, "What is wrong with you?"

"What?" muttered a half-asleep Rayna.

"First you don't care about kidnapping kids, and now you're going to murder one?" Azariah asked.

Rayna raised an eyebrow, "First of all, we're assassins, and its our job. Second of all, since when do you care?"

"Since children came into this," Azariah said furiously.

"We're children!" Rayna yelled. The others who were sleeping stirred. She lowered her voice, "We're children."

Azariah nodded, "Exactly. Would you have chosen this life?"

"I didn't have a choice," Rayna said, "I'd be dead if Kugen didn't save me from that plane crash."

"That wasn't Kugen," Azariah snapped, "That was me."

Rayna froze for a moment, "What happened that night?"

"The brainwashing took away most of it," Azariah said, "but I was on that plane. I was the one they were recruiting. But I saw you were alive, so I dragged you with me. Otherwise, Kugen would've killed you."

"He wouldn't have seen me there-" Rayna realized where the scars and burn marks on her back came from.

Azariah carefully explained, "If I hadn't pulled you out of that plane, you'd be dead. Who do you think caused that crash? Or the mechanic who loosened a safety clip on the rails of the exact train that Ajax was on?"

"You're saying that he finds children-"

"He finds fighters and brainwashes them," Azariah said, "He makes them his own. And you're going to let him do that to those girls? After they trusted you thinking you could have been their sister on a college exchange?"

Rayna frowned, "What am I supposed to do about it?"

"Don't help him," Azariah said as if it were obvious.

"Then I end up dead, too," She said.

Azariah sighed, "If you aren't going to help me kill Kugen-"

"Kill him?" Rayna exclaimed, "You do realize that he trained you, right?"

"He didn't train you," Azariah said, "I did."

Rayna would've laughed if this weren't so serious and incredibly stupid, "That's pretty much the same thing!"

"My point is that if you won't help, you're in my way," Azariah sighed, "And then I'll have to kill you, which I don't want to do."

Azariah walked to the other end of the camp and sat down. Rayna closed her eyes, but sleep never came.

The next morning, she and Azariah kept their distance from each other. They travelled further into the misty woods until nightfall came again, at which point they made camp again.

"I've been thinking about what you said," Rayna said.

"And you've come to a decision?"

She nodded, "You are absolutely crazy. You'd never be free."

"I wouldn't be murdering people to survive, I'd be free enough," Azariah said.

"You'd always be looking over your shoulder," Rayna said, "Remember how Storm always beats us in training for the short time she's not on long missions? And Kugen runs a larger organization, and they're all elite. He's the only one training children."

Azariah sighed, "I'm sorry it's come to this."

"So am I," Rayna said.

"Because I guess now you're just going to be another assassin I have to kill," Azariah said.

Rayna shrugged, "Good luck."

That night, she knew both of them slept with one eye open. However, the next morning, she looked around the camp.

Azariah was gone.